Generally, conferencing and collaboration systems use several mechanisms and methods to enable people to call in to participate in “conference calls.” The conference “calls” can be audio-only or they may include video, white-boarding, document sharing, or other real-time and interactive collaboration methods. A method for creating a “conference call” begins with a conference host accessing the conferencing system with the intent to schedule a conference bridge for use at a specified time. The host schedules the “call” using the conferencing system's scheduling features and then sends invitations to the people who are requested, or required, to join as conference participants. The content of these invitations contains the full context for the conference. For example, invited participants are presented the date and time of the conference, the list of invited participants to the conference, and finally, the “call-in” information for the conference.
The “call-in” information generally consists of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone number and a “conference pass-code” (e.g., a “personal identification number” (PIN)), usually in the form of a multi-digit number. The public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone number and PIN number uniquely identify the conferencing system and which of the audio bridges, active on the system, the participant intends to join for their scheduled conference call. Generally, the invitations are sent to participants using electronic mail clients such as Microsoft® Outlook®. Outlook and other email/calendar clients may send formatted emails that allow the receivers of the invitation to easily recognize that they are being invited to attend a conference call and add the meeting invitation to their electronic calendars. The PSTN and PIN call-in numbers are generally included as part of the text fields in the invitation so the information can be found and used by the invitee when it is time to “call-in.”
Although the above systems and methods for joining a conference call are effective, they are also inefficient and prone to error. The conference host may mistype the PSTN number and/or pass-code when sending the invitation. Or, the conference participant may not have access to their calendar to retrieve the PSTN call-in number and/or PIN when the conference is scheduled to start. In both of these situations, the result is loss of time and productivity as participants try to join a conference bridge.
Some recently developed and more advanced conferencing systems have attempted to address this problem by having an active connection to the calendars of the people who might be participants on a conference call. Participants who have such an active connection between their calendar and the conferencing system are able to initiate a call-in to a standard PSTN number for the conferencing system. The conference system may join them to the correct bridge at the time listed in the calendar entry. Identification of the person by the conference system is done using the incoming caller ID and/or personal PIN code. Using that information the conferencing system can access that person's calendar; read the information in the calendar entry associated as taking place at the time of the call; identify the conference bridge to join the person to; and, join the person to the correct bridge. The core problem with calendar-based systems is they require the conference bridge to have full, real-time access to the calendars of everyone who might want to use the system in this manner. Another known solution is to have the conference bridge call the participants instead of the other way around. Problems with these approaches include that the conference bridge has to know how to contact the participants (including alternate phone numbers) and how to deal with outbound calls that are unanswered, go to answering machines, or are otherwise answered by anyone other than the intended participant.
In other systems, the conferencing system is provided with a list of expected participants including the participants' caller ID and/or personal PIN, with the date and time that the conference is scheduled, and with instructions to join the participants to the scheduled conference based on their caller ID or personal PIN. The problem with this approach is it does not work for “ad-hoc” conferencing situations where users are assigned personal conference codes and are then free to start conferences whenever they would like (subject to capacity limits on the bridge).